Two UCL researchers awarded Daiwa Adrian Prize

24 July 2013

Two UCL researchers, Professor Alexander Shluger and Dr
Peter Sushko (both from UCL Physics & Astronomy and London Centre for Nanotechnology), have been awarded
one of the 2013 Daiwa Adrian Prizes, which recognise significant scientific collaboration
between Japanese and British research teams. The team was awarded the prize
jointly with researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology for a
longstanding collaboration in materials science.

The prizes, awarded every three years, acknowledge those
that have combined excellence in scientific achievement with a long-term
contribution to UK-Japan relations. UCL’s close relations with Japan date back
to the 1860s, when it was the first European university to admit Japanese
students.

This is the excellent result of our long-standing collaboration with the group of Professor Hideo Hosono at the Tokyo Institute of Technology

Prof Alex Shluger

The winning research teams will receive £10,000 and a prize
giving ceremony will be held at the Royal Society in London on 27 November 2013.

Professor Shluger, lead researcher for the UCL team, said
“This is the excellent result of our long-standing collaboration with the group
of Professor Hideo Hosono at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. I am
particularly happy for the young researchers involved in this project, Drs
Sushko, Hayashi and Toda, whose efforts made this project a success.”

The collaboration seeks to find novel properties of
materials made up of relatively common elements. For instance, one focus of the
research has been on calcium aluminate, a transparent material which can
conduct electricity, and which is made of cheap and abundant elements. Currently
used compounds with these properties require rare and expensive materials – a
major issue in Japan, which has very few mineral deposits, and a large
high-tech manufacturing sector.

The Japanese team focused on experimental study of the
materials, with UCL’s researchers providing theoretical analysis based on
computer simulations. This combination of theoretical and experimental study is
a highly effective way to attack scientific problems from two different
perspectives.

The UCL and Japanese teams have been collaborating since
2003. Their latest paper has just been accepted for publication in Nature Communications.

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